Celebrating the success of the Los Angeles Lakers, Crooks and Castles have commemorated them with the ‘Ruling Elite Pack‘. This friday, these tees will be releasing exclusively at the Crooks and Castles 8021 flagship store in Los Angeles.

If you thought Kanye's ego was huge -- you're right. He has released the THIRD video for Flashing Lights. You decide which one is the best. Personally, I liked the first one. Is there a connection between the three? Hmm...

Similar to the Spizikes, these Jordans combine the six years that Jordan won a ring. Personally, I like 'em. The die-hards are hating and the scenesters are lovin' em. Who knows? To each his own. Anyways, these are some new pics circulating.

If you're a poker player aspiring to set your name in poker history, there's no better place to do it than the 2008 World Series of Poker. The month long series of tournaments kicks off today with a $10,000 Pot Limit Hold Em' Championship event.

The complete schedule can be found here, including the 2008 Main Event which will begin July 3rd and culminate in a delayed final table that will be played sometime in October.

Almost every single big name player will be in Vegas for the month of June not only for the chance at millions in tournament prizes but as well as the juicy cash games that the whole WSOP atmosphere generates.

CrookedStraight's own Killa Kev is making the trek out to Vegas in search of glory. Or just a story or two to blog about. So we wish him and everyone else the best of luck at the tables.

Oh yea, in case you didn't know, many online poker sites will also be holding a "mini wsop" with identical events only 1/100th of the actual WSOP entry fee. So regular $1,500 events will be $15. $10,000 Championship events will be $100 tournaments, as well as a H.O.R.S.E. $500 event mirroring the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

"The Life of Ivey" has premiered on Pokerroad. In the first clip (which is very short and amateurish...shot by Barry Greenstein on a flip cam), Phil Ivey and Ted Forrest discuss prop bets of a mile-long race or the first to three WSOP bracelets for $1 million.

And for a bonus, here's why Greenstein even shot the video (after being criticized on 2+2 for his shaky camera work):

I told Joe that shooting the video in that shaky matter made things look realistic. If everything was smooth and blocked perfectly, viewers would think it was contrived.

That's what I told him, but here's what actually happened: I had no plan to shoot any video. I brought this little Flip video camera to give to Phil so that his golf instructor and caddie, Danny, could shoot some segments of Phil golfing and playing online (not for instruction, but he's funny to watch).

Phil and Ted were for some reason betting $25k per low card, double if you are the actual bring-in, not something that we usually do. They got this idea because Ilya Trincher did it with Phil a month ago. Luckbox Phil went on a rush of low cards and Ted got a little upset and started offering prop bets.

At this point, I remembered that I had this little video camera in my pocket and I thought this might make an amusing video. I had never used it or any other camera in years. It had an obvious on/off toggle and a big red button. I turned it on and pushed the red button. I hoped it was recording, but I wasn't confident that it really was. Most of the wiggling is from me checking that the recording time numbers were progressing on the display.

I don't plan on shooting any more, but we need to put cameras in the hands of people Phil likes and trusts. If you have seen how many people thrust cameras in his face, it's surprising he hasn't developed a phobia of them.

You may have noticed we've added a new link list to Crooked Straight. That link list is the "Christmas List," which will consist of some specialty sites and online stores that sell cool shit.

The first spot on there belongs to Steez Luis, a Seattle brand owned by designer Troy Tsuchikawa, who reinvents a lot of golden pieces of our generation like Screech, Eazy-E and Mike Vick's dog debacle.

I'll be adding other online shops and spots to that list as I come across them.

Here's Mariah Carey throwing out a first pitch in some Japanese baseball game.

Observe the form on her toss. And the funny thing is, she's still hella sexy.

Well played Nick.

In an attempt to make Mariah feel better about her horrendous pitch, here is footage of the Cincinatti mayor with a first pitch that's juuuuuuuust a little outside. It should be noted that this guy did tag the umpire on the hop.

The Celtics did all they could to choke away the game last night, but somehow held on to take an important Game 5 from the Pistons and please all of us who are deathly afraid of a Pistons-Spurs finals. They got a career playoff game from Kendrick Perkins, who was just a monster, and Ray Allen finally remembered he's got the best stroke in the NBA and began dropping Js again.

But they were led by Kevin Garnett, who was a warrior like always. He did most of his damage on midrange jumpers last night, but he did spark the team by facializing (yes, that's a word) Jason Maxiell on a fast break.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Kobe defies gravity once again with the crew of Jackass. The Wee Man hug is priceless at the end. And it was nice to see Kobe shrug off the gossip and rumors yesterday and give it to the Furs. Let's wrap it up in five guys (I no longer associate myself with the Oklahoma City Sonics. Therefore, the Lakers are now my team by default).

The middle stages of a poker tournament can be a tortuous and tedious experience for even the most seasoned pro. The long trek toward the money, combined with a variety of potentially tricky scenarios you may face along the way, make it difficult to come up with one sure-fire strategy to help you through. That said, one aspect of mid-tourney play that’s extremely important is picking up pots pre-flop.

If you’ve been card dead in the first few levels you may only have as many chips as what you started with, or you may have been lucky enough to double or triple up early on. You may be minutes or hours away from making the money, depending on the number of entrants, and the average chip stack may be 20, 30 or even 40BB, based on the structure.

No matter what the situation is, however, it’s important to remember that once the blinds start to represent a decent percentage of your stack, you want to steal as much as possible. Raising the blinds a fair amount also balances your play and gets your big hands paid off more often. You’ll lose a few of your raises with speculative hands when people come over the top of you or call, but you’ll win a few as well, and raising will convince people to play back at you on those times when you happen to have big hands.

Bear in mind it’s still important to pick your spots. Continue to play tight from early position – stick to big pairs and AK – but from late position, start to attack the blinds with a variety of playable hands. At this stage of the tournament, if you’re going to play a hand, you should be coming into the pot with a raise every single time.

From the cutoff or hijack, for example, I’m going to open with hands like 9Ts, any Ax suited, all pairs, two picture cards, and even looser hands than that from the button. If I’m in late position and facing a raise, I’m either going to want to smooth-call with a really good hand or re-raise bluff them to pick up the pot pre-flop.

If somebody makes a pre-flop raise that’s more than 10% of my stack and I have a hand I want to play, I’ll consider moving all-in over the top of them. Any smaller re-raise commits me to the hand and flat-calling gives me no idea of where I’m at. If I smooth-call, my opponent is likely to bet first after the flop and without top pair or an over-pair, I’m going to be forced to either fold the best hand or, possibly, move all-in with the worst hand.

For example, let’s say somebody opens in mid-to-late position for 300 and you’re on the button with T-T and 2,000 in chips. In this situation, I would assume the raiser is opening with any two picture cards, any pair or suited Aces, so a hand like T-T is definitely strong enough to play against their range.

I think the best play here is to move all-in. This will put some pressure on your opponent if they don’t have a very good hand and they’ll be likely to fold. This move also helps you avoid the trouble you might face if you just smooth-call the raise and over-cards come on the flop. If you’re holding T-T and the flop comes Jack or King high, you really have no idea what your opponent has if they lead out, which means you will probably have to fold.

I’d recommend moving all-in with 8-8 or 9-9 in this situation too because you’ll get more action pre-flop and maximize the value from your coin flips. If someone raises pre-flop with A-Q and you elect to just call with a mid-pocket pair, they’re likely to miss the flop and check-fold. However, if you go all-in over the top and they call, you have a good chance to take their whole stack and set yourself up for the rest of the tournament.

By moving all-in with hands like A-K, A-Q, 9-9 and T-T in these situations, you’re giving yourself more opportunities to win pots by either getting your opponents to lay down marginal hands, or to make calls that put them in coin-flip situations. By mixing up your game a little and making these moves with monsters every once in awhile, you can also get your opponents to make some calls where they’re huge dogs.

Remember, the first goal of tournament poker is to make it into the money. By aggressively attacking blinds and antes when you think you’re likely to be a favorite in the hand, you can build a stack that will help carry you through the tough patches you may face in the middle stages, and put you in position to play for the win once the bubble bursts.

By now, if you haven't seen Kanye West's bizarre video for "Flashing Lights" featuring the delectable Rita G., then you're not cool enough to read this blog. But if you have, here's an interesting vid that's popped up recently alleged to be his first concept for the track.

What do you think? Better? Worse? El garbago?

I think it's probably an improvement, in that it seems to fit better with both the vibe and message of the song, but it's hard to say that anything's an improvement over Rita in lingerie. (Although Charlotte Carter-Allen, the model in this video, works the hell out of a T-shirt.)

Apparently the blogosphere is trying to take Kobe and his personal life down. Thedirty.com reports that he is having an affair (or had an affair) with a Laker girl by the name of... Vanessa (Curry).

I can't lie, I'm a closet Kobe fan. So I'd love to say that this appears to be a vicious false rumor, but the problem is this chick JUST "resigned" from the Laker Girls team in the middle of the playoffs, which is a bit odd. But if you really think about it, she could have made up a story and Kobe found out and got her fired. Who knows?

These two men are the reason that the adjustable height basketball hoop was invented. So every 12-18 year-old could emulate them when playing 21 with their friends. I know I got some windmills thrown down on my dome many times in the alley.

Moving on from the initial Air Jordan meets Air Force 1 mash up that began with the Air Jordan V, the Air Jordan III is next up to undergo the hybrid phase. Kicking off the releases in July are some new colorways that have never before been seen on the Air Jordan III. However, come September, the AJF3 returns to its roots using OG colors one of the most popular Jordans.

You have to imagine that the Pittsburgh Penguins were pretty amped up to reach the Stanley Cup Finals this season. They've come a long way behind the leadership of Sid the Kid. So maybe they should've let Sidney Crosby lead them onto the ice before game 1 instead of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who looked like a dip shit when he fell on his face as soon as he stepped on the ice as he attempted to rally the troops before the game. I knew I should have bet on the Red Wings.

If you don't know who Lewis Hamilton is, then chances are you live in America.

He's the first Black driver to win a Formula 1 race (in Canada last June), and last year he came a few points short of becoming the first to win the Driver's Championship. He's rapidly becoming a new bright face for the sport, ringing up magazine interviews, endorsement deals, and paparazzi camera flashes. Due to Formula 1's relatively small US fan base, though, many Americans are not familiar with the young star (despite features and articles in many mainstream US publications, such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, and Maxim). But that will soon change.

On the heels of his triumph in the Grand Prix of Monaco—arguably the biggest win of his career thus far—the Daily Mirror is reporting that Hamilton and Pussycat Doll lead-singer Nicole Scherzinger are officially dating.

"Lewis Hamilton is not known for his U-turns on the track but appeared to perform one over his love life.

Just hours after the Monaco Grand Prix winner and Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger denied being an item - they changed their minds.

Nicole, 29, told friends: 'We've been seeing each other on and off for three months. He was amazing today.' F1 star Lewis, 23, and Nicole got all revved up kissing and cuddling in Monaco's Amber lounge while celebrating Sunday's victory."

Friday, May 23, 2008

If you're not much of a poker forum browser then you may have missed out on an interesting proposition bet going on at the 2 plus 2 boards. Basically this dude WCGrider, an online grinder, has a bet going that he can net a profit of $10,000 within the time period of exactly 1 month, while multi tabling nothing but 25NL online. He's been booking action at an asking price of 5:2 odds.

The whole thing is very legit as a strict set of rules have been implemented including a 24/7 webcam broadcast to insure he is the one playing at all times. Not to mention the fact that the dude is a very respected member of the online community.

To be honest, this seems like a ridiculously impossible feat.

$10,000 at 25NL equals 400 buy ins which in turn equals roughly 400,000 hands at a modest winrate of 5BB/100.

That's almost 13k hands per day! He'll have to be putting in anywhere from 10-18 hours a day depending on variance. I just don't think he'll be able to keep it up for 31 straight days, which is why I've already placed a couple of bets against him achieving his goal.

Here's a couple of links in case you'd like to follow along on his progress.